Vitamin B9 is one of eight B (B-complex) vitamins that help your body change food (carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose) to produce energy. You need B9 for the health of your liver, skin, hair and eyes, and to keep your nervous system working properly.
Cleveland Clinic – Vitamin B9 helps your body make healthy new cells, supporting many of its functions, and may help prevent health issues from developing. It’s proven critical for reproductive health, too.
“It’s essential for people who are pregnant to take folic acid supplements to support healthy fetal growth and development,” notes Zumpano. “When you’re trying to conceive or are pregnant, it’s extremely difficult to get the amount of vitamin B9 needed.”
Studies show that people who take folic acid supplements before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy may reduce their risk of having children with neural tube defects (birth defects of the brain and spine such as spina bifida) by 40% to 80%. Early evidence suggests folic acid may also be associated with a lower risk of autism, severe language delays and emotional issues.
People with multimorbidity (two or more coexisting conditions in an individual) are more likely to die prematurely, be admitted to hospital and have an increased length of stay than people with a single chronic condition.
Multimorbidity is also associated with poorer function and health-related quality of life (HRQOL), depression and intake of multiple drugs (polypharmacy) and greater socioeconomic costs. Most health care is designed to treat individual conditions rather than providing comprehensive, person-centreed care, which often leads to fragmented and sometimes contradictory care for people with multimorbidity and increases their treatment burden. Moreover, treating one condition at a time is inefficient and unsatisfactory for both people with multimorbidity and their health-care providers.
Daniela Hernandez | WSJ – Getting the flu can increase the risk of getting a second infection, including strep throat. WSJ’S Daniela Hernandez explains the science behind that, plus what it means for the rest of the winter and how we can protect ourselves so the tripledemic doesn’t get worse.
Video timeline: 0:24 – Flu Damage 1:25 – Lower population immunity 2:03 – Who’s most vulnerable? 3:05 – How can we protect ourselves?
Most people with binge-eating disorder are overweight or obese, but you may be at a normal weight. Behavioral and emotional signs and symptoms of binge-eating disorder include:
Eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific amount of time, such as over a two-hour period
Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control
Eating even when you’re full or not hungry
Eating rapidly during binge episodes
Eating until you’re uncomfortably full
Frequently eating alone or in secret
Feeling depressed, disgusted, ashamed, guilty or upset about your eating
Cleveland Clinic – In living donor liver transplantation a portion of a donor’s healthy liver is transplanted into a recipient in need. Living donor liver transplantation is possible because the liver, unlike any other organ in the body, has the ability to regenerate (regrow). Most regeneration of both the donor’s and recipient’s livers occurs within the first 8 weeks.
All potential donors will undergo a complete medical and psychosocial evaluation. Not everyone is suitable or eligible to become a living liver donor based on a number of factors such as pre-existing medical conditions, psychosocial concerns, or liver size. Donating an organ is a personal decision that should only be made after becoming fully informed about its potential risks and benefits.
A thoracic aortic aneurysm is a weak spot in the aorta, the main pipeline for blood from the heart to the body. The weak spot has the potential to dissect or rupture, cutting off the supply of life-sustaining blood to the rest of the body. Thoracic aortic aneurysms are often harder to detect and diagnose compared to the more common abdominal aortic aneurysms.
December 14, 2022
The aorta begins deep in the heart. It emerges from the top of the powerful left ventricle, curves up and over the heart in a gentle arch, then descends into the chest and through the muscular diaphragm into the abdomen (see “Thoracic aorta”). It ends around the belly button, where it splits into two smaller arteries, one for each leg.
THORACIC AORTA
From start to end, arteries branch off to nourish the heart, brain, arms, kidneys, liver, stomach, intestines, and every other part of the body. The stretch of the aorta from its start in the heart to the top of the diaphragm is called the thoracic aorta; the section below the diaphragm is the abdominal aorta.
Some aneurysms are relatively harmless. Others can lead to the catastrophic problems known as dissection or rupture. For now, size is the best and only guide to the health threat posed by an aneurysm.
Dissection. The most common consequence of an aortic aneurysm, dissection occurs when a tear develops in the inner lining of the aortic wall. The inner and outer layers peel apart, creating an extra channel for blood inside the aorta. It may do no harm, or it may allow blood to bypass the outflow to certain organs or tissues, leaving them without a blood supply. This can cause a heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, and other problems.
Rupture. A break in all three layers of the aortic wall is termed a rupture. Blood pours from the aorta into the chest. This massive internal bleeding can quickly lead to shock and death.
Doctors Without Waiting Rooms 